Holland: Charlton ready for Hammers

'There's a belief about the place that we can stay up and everyone's pulling in the same direction.

'We're looking at winning half our remaining games which will be tough, so we need to win our home games, starting with West Ham on Saturday.'

Huge interest surrounds the derby against the Hammers at The Valley and Holland describes the meeting as 'massive'.

Pardew started the season in charge at West Ham, while current Upton Park boss Curbishley left Charlton last summer after 15 years in charge.

And the teams are stuck together on 20 points in the relegation zone.

But it is the three points and not the associated circus that is the priority for the players, a point echoed by Addicks assistant manager Phil Parkinson.

'There is going to be a lot of hype with both managers up against their old clubs, a local derby and a relegation battle,' he said.

'But the lads are focused, they know what is required and I can sense they are ready for the challenge.'

Our last match was a 2-0 defeat at Manchester United on 10 February, and with a free weekend because of our third round exit from the FA Cup, the squad headed to Malaga in Spain for some warm-weather training.

Cookie Policy
At Vital Football, we along with most other modern websites use small files called 'cookies' to create the most secure, effective and functional website possible for our users. Without these files our business model, based on advertising, breaks down and we would be unable to continue to provide the services that you are here to utilise. By continuing to use this website after seeing this message, you consent to our use of cookies on this device unless you have disabled them. For full details please read our Cookie Policy which can be found here. However, if you would like to disable cookies on this device, please view our Cookie Policy which contains an opt-out tool for disabling advertising cookies. Please also visit our information pages on 'How to manage cookies' if you would also like to block all other types of cookies. Please be aware that parts of this site will not function correctly if you disable cookies.